


The Third Option

by greenet



Category: New Mutants
Genre: Gen, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 19:51:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenet/pseuds/greenet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>inspired by issue 33 of New Mutants, although I wouldn't want to pin down the continuity too hard... Wolverine picks the school, Cyclops picks an army, and Danielle finds a third option.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Third Option

**Author's Note:**

  * For [karrenia_rune](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/gifts).



> Many, lots of thanks to Tieleen and Cosmic who looked it over for me and made it readable.

  **The house**

Talking to Scott had turned out to be the easy part. Finding a house that fit them in San Francisco, on the other hand, proved more problematic. Even with Danielle making Doug do his thing.

"They mean it's a rat infested hell hole," Doug said. "But you don't need me to tell you that."

Dani scowled at the computer screen.

"I have lots of money," Bobby said, in a way he probably thought was helpful. It wasn't.  

"Yes, Bobby, but we're going to be living among normal people, with normal amounts of money --"

"We are the 99%!" Amara beamed.

Dani raised an eyebrow, then turned to Doug. Doug smirked, not looking away from the computer. She decided not to touch that. "...Right. Anyway. Normal neighborhood! With families and old people and kids and small, annoying pets. That's what we want. We agreed."

Roberto looked a little dubious. "Sure." 

 

 **The phone call**

"Goooood morning!" Dani said cheerfully. They'd been out chasing down unfinished business for Cyclops again, and since she was too geared up right now to sleep, she'd decided to call Sam. She glanced up at the clock on the wall, counting forwards from three at night to Sam's time in Westchester. Okay, that was probably too cheerfully, considering the time difference. Overall, things were going well, faintly terrifying Latverian neighbor aside. Sam would just have to deal with some early-morning cheerfulness.

"Dani?" Sam croaked in return.

"That's me!"

"Oh god."  
   
There was a crash at the other end, and Dani removed the phone from her ear to give it a concerned look. She held it up again. "Sam?"

"I'm okay, I'm okay! I'm not awake, but I'm okay."

Dani grinned. "Good to hear. So... How are you doing?" She leaned her elbow on the window sill, looking down at the street where people were walking to and fro, doing normal people things. She ignored the crash that came from the living room, and the subsequent "Sorry! I can buy you a new one! A better one!" from Roberto.

"Well, you know..." She could practically hear Sam shrugging over the phone. "The Jean Grey School of Higher Learning hasn't been shut down yet, which is something of a miracle, if you ask me. It's nice, I'm feeling useful."

Dani frowned. "You were useful before. That's not a new thing." She poked the window frame absent-mindedly. Maybe they should get curtains.

Sam sighed. "No, but I feel like I need to be here now. We've talked about this. A lot."

Dani nodded, and then faked a startled smile as Mrs. Livitz gave her a friendly wave from across the street. "I just miss having your stupid face around, I guess."

"Understandable." There was laughter in his voice. "It is pretty stupid, after all."  
   
"Exactly." Dani nodded firmly.  

"So how are you guys doing? Settled in yet?"

 

 **The play**

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Dani said flatly.

"I'd love to say I'm surprised," Doug said, staring up at the stage. "But I'm really not."

"So big, green, glowing monster is not a part of the play?" Roberto asked. He shrugged when they looked at him. "What? I've never seen this before! The grinch is green, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he's not quite so... troll-like." The three of them remained in their seats, unmoving, as around them the rest of the audience ran towards the exits.

The unusually large and troll-like Grinch was wrecking the stage, but it hadn't yet turned towards the audience, so Danielle felt they could afford to take a moment. The sentiment was obviously shared by the other two.  
   
The actual actors had made a run for it the moment the troll lumbered onto the stage.

"I just wanted some realism!"

They turned their head at the wail, and saw Nate dragging a despairing woman towards them. The woman seemed too busy staring up at the troll and wringing her hands to actually walk.

"I'm not very familiar with the play, but somehow I don't think a trashed stage is part of it," Roberto said, raising his eyebrows.  The woman wailed again.

 

*

Meanwhile, Amara and Warlock were decorating the house, because someone had to. It would probably go faster if Warlock didn't interface with the decorations that were some kind of electronics, but Amara was too amused to make him stop. "Oh I'm sure they're just fine," she replied to his worried inquiry.  
   
"It's a family play, after all. There are children and grannies around. Well, they might be a bit bored," she added as an afterthought.

*

"I wanted to make it more exciting," the woman blubbered, clinging to Nate. Dani wasn't sure, but she thought the woman was also taking the opportunity to cop a feel. Nate looked like he was wishing very hard for his telekinesis to kick in.

Doug ducked as a prop was thrown in their direction. "I'm sure it's going to be an experience your audience is going to remember for a while," he said.

The woman bawled harder. Nate looked down at her, eyes wide.

"I want to hit it," Bobby said, like he'd been thinking about it for a while. "Can I? Oh, Dani, can I?"

Since Dani was currently being forced to defend herself from overgrown candy canes, she was all for that plan. "Go for it!"

"Yay!" Bobby powered up, going the pitch black of Sunspot in a flash.

"Sometimes I worry about him," Dani told Doug.

"We all do," Doug said, grinning.

Dani waited until Bobby had gotten in a couple of hits and distracted the troll a little. "All right, let's go and try to talk to the Grinch. Convince him to leave Whoville alone."

"Bet you never thought you'd say that."

 

 **Old friends**

"Hello! I'm --" Shatterstar began, beaming at Nate and holding out a hand for him to shake. Nate stared at him for a moment, then took a step back to yell for Dani, interrupting whatever introduction Shatterstar had intended to make.

"What? What is it now?" Dani grumbled. Mrs. Livitz's special Latverian food had turned out to be quite tasty, and if she was gone too long, it would all be mysteriously gone. Then she got to the door and brightened. "Shatterstar! Julio! Hi! What are you doing here?"

"It's traditional at mid-winter to join one's friends in celebration," Shatterstar said happily and adjusted Julio's santa hat.

Julio rolled his eyes. "Sorry. I said turning on the tv right now was a bad idea, but would anybody listen? No." He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. "Rahne is here too, she's just parking the car."

It wasn't exactly like old times.

But it was good. 

 

 **The end**


End file.
